Rotary tippler for railway wagons



Nov. 17, 1953 R. ROBSON ROTARY TIPPLER FOR RAILWAY WAGONS Filed Deo. 18, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENToR Raam-r F0350 @Y Xg@ m TTORNEY R. ROBSON ROTARY TIPPLER FOR RAILWAY WAGONS Nov. 17, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 18, 1948 Il Il TTORNEY Patented Nov. 17, k1953 UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY TIPPLER FOR RAILWAY WAGONS Robert Robson, Bexley Heath,`England, assigner to The General Electric Company, Limited,

London, England Application December 18, 1948, Serial No. 66,045

1 Claim. (Cl. 214-55) d According to the present invention, automatic clamping gear for a rotary tippler of the kind specified comprises at least one pivoted lever arm associated with the said sustaining beam and arranged to clamp the beam down on a wagon, and two ropes, chains or the like connected with said lever arm one on either side of the pivot of the arm, one rope, chain or the like being arranged to transmit a force for clamping the sustaining beam against the wagon during tipping and the other being arranged to transmit a force which at least will assist in raising the beam from its clamping to its non-clamping position, the necessary forces for clamping or raising the sustaining beam being arranged to be automatically applied to one or other of the said ropes, chains or the like by rotation of the tippler.

The two ropes may be coupled to a single weight. Thus, according to one feature of the present invention, automatic clamping gear for a rotary tippler of the kind specified comprises at n least one lever arm associated with the said sustaining beam and arranged to clamp the beam down on a wagon, and a weight arranged to apply at least a part 0f the necessary clamping force on the lever arm, the weight being linked I.:

with two points one on each side of the pivot of the lever arm so as to provide not only the clamping force but a force for at least partly maintaining the beam in a 'non-clamping position and/or moving the beam to the said position, the effective application of the weight being automatically transferred from one of said two points to the other.

In order to obtain a good mechanical advantage and to reduce the range of movement of the weight, the point on the clamping side of the lever arm may be a greater distance from the pivot, for example six times, than the point on the other side of the pivot, the sustaining beam being connected with the lever arm about midway or at a distance to suit various widths of wagons from the pivot to the point where the clamping force is applied and the weight being connected with the said points by way of ropes and pulleys.

.'Ihe weight may run on guide rails or tracks secured to or forming part of a rotatable` part of the tippler such as an end ring or the cage, and if two lever arms are arranged in like manner one at each end of the tippler, a single weighted beam may then act for both lever arms.

With two lever arms disposed one at each end of the tippler, a sustaining beam may be rigidly,I connected between the lever arms so as to be across the ends of a wagon to be tipped. AAlternatively a main beam may be connected between the two lever arms and the sustaining beam or beams mechanically linked to the main beam. An example of construction of a rotary tippler in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the two figures of the accompanying drawings in which Figures 1 and 2 show end and side sectional elevations, at lines I-I and lI--II in Figures 2 and 1 respectively, Figure 2 only showing an elevation of one end of the tippler the other end being similar.

Referring now to the drawings the rotary tippler comprises the usual structural cage I provided with a pair of tippler rings 2, one at each end of the cage, and a sustaining beam 3 running the length of the cage I between the tippler rings 2. The sustaining beam 3 is provided with a rocking face 4 in known manner and is arranged to clamp across the ends of a wagon (not shown) run on to a suitable railed platform 5 forming part of the cage l.

Two sustaining or lever arms 6 are provided, one at each end just inside the tippling rings 2, and each lever arm 6 consists of two arms parts 6a and 6b, the sustaining beam 3 being carried about 'midwayor at a distance to suit various widths of wagons along the lengths of the arm part 6a.

The sustaining arms 6 are mounted to rotate in the vertical plane about a pivot 1 either on the tippler rings L2 as shown in Figure 1, or on brackets attached to the structural cage l When the tippler is in its upright position and the arms 6 in their normal disengaged position, the main lengths of the arms project upwardly at an angle of about 30 to the horizontal. Each arm y(i is slightly cranked so that a short length thereof adjacent its pivot forming the arm part 6b is substantially vertical in the normal position and this vertical length projects a short distance below the pivot 1 to provide a lever arm part on the other side of the pivot. y

' In order normally to hold the sustaining arms 6 and beam 3 away from a wagon, the ends of the lever arm parts 6b below the pivotsV 'I are each attached by means of an individual wire I3 rope 8 to the adjacent end of a weighted beam 9 (preferably of box form and filled with concrete) which runs the length of the structural cage I parallel to its axis near to the bottom thereof in its untipped position and is provided with a pair of flanged travelling wheels III at each end which run in vertically arranged arcuate tracks attached either to the vtippler rings 2 of the cage I. Normally, the weighted beam 9 lies below the pivots 1 of the sustaining arms 6 near the bottom of the tippler rings 2 and a short distance up the arcuate tracks from the lowest position and a projection I2 engages a stop II on the foundations or xed structure of the tippler to prevent it rising further. Proceeding from the weighted beam 9, the wire rope 8 Y passes over a pulley 69 mounted on the tippler ring 2, the first of two pulleys I3 mounted on a bracket I4 secured to the cage I, a pulley I5 fixed to the lower end of'the lever varm part 6b, and the second pulleyI3, the wire rope' 8v being secured at its other end-to the-leverarrrrpart 6b. Thus there are three falls of wire-rope 8 between th'e'cage I' and the sustaining arm 6.

On lthe' side of the'weighted-beam to the Vconnections-to the wire ropes 8, Aa pulley I6 is attached to each end of the beam by suitable brackets II and wire ropes I8 run from fast ends on the'cage,'rings` ortracks one over each pulley I6 andA then over threefurther-pulleys I9 carried by the tippler rings 2 up to the free end-ofthev associated sustainingv arm part lia.V Each wire.

rope- I8 terminates ina single eye rod- 2| which is takenthrough a trunnion pin- 20 at lthe end of the sustaining arm 6 and a compression spring 22 is placed between the end ofthe'rod 2i and the pin 20 to take up any small diiferences-in the lengths of the two ropes/8 and I8 at each end of theweighted beam 9. The weighted beam 9 is therefore'linked with the ends of both arms part 6a and 6b of the sustaining arm- Groneor each side of the pivot 'I ofthearms'Ii.

-A bolster 23 of known formis'provided inthe cage I against which the Wagon side can rest and this bolster 23 is mounted on that side of the cage I on which the pivots 1 of the sustaining arms 6 are mounted.

In operation of the construction described above, when the tippler is at rest in its normal position, the sustainingbeam 3 and arms 6 carrying it are held up by the two sets of three falls of rope 8 anchored to the weighted beam 9, the weighted beam 9 being prevented from being pulled along the arcuate tracks by means of the stop II on the foundations or structure of the tippler'.

To empty a wagon, the tippler is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow 24 so as to move the weighted beam 9 downwardly to its lowest position away from the stop I I and, when in that position, the sustaining arms 6 and beam 3 move to clamp down on the ends of the wagon, the beam 9 running on the arcuate tracks and,

for a time, remaining at the lowest position.

Once the sustaining beam 3 has engaged the wagon ends, the weighted beam 9 begins to move again upwardly on the other side of its lowest position and it is arranged that when the desired tipping angle is reached, the beam 9 has moved up to approximately the horizontal centre line'v of the tippler rings 2, the exact position depending on the height ofthe wagon being tipped.

9 opposite CII 4 In this position, it exerts its maximum weight downwardly on the ropes I8 connected with the free ends of the sustaining arms B and the force of this weight on the wagon is increased by the mechanical advantage. By regulating the weight of the beam 9, the force on the wagon ends can be regulated.

When the wagon is empty and the tippler is reversed, the weighted beam 9 iirst runs to its lowest position, then the beam either remains there for a time or runs on up to its stop II to cause the sustaining arms 6 and beam 3 to move upwardly and so release the wagon, the Weighted beam 9 in this case pulling on the other set of ropes 8 with the three falls. Engagement of the weighted beam 9 with the stop II ensures that the sustaining arms 6 and beam 3 are lifted.

As will be appreciated from the above description, the lever ratio of the sustaining arms as far as the weighted beam and its sets of ropes are concerned is 6:1, the free end of each sustaining arm-.part 6a travelling six times the distancey through whichthe free lends of the short lever armparts 6b thereof travel. The pulleys I3, I5 and 69 associated-with the ropes 8 allow for this and small inequalities in the lengths of the ropes 8 and I8 are taken care of by the compressionsprings 22. These are compressed solid, of course, in the fully tipped position.

I claim:

A rotary wagon tippler comprising a rotatable cage, supports in said cage for a wagon to be tipped, a sustaining beam for. clamping the wagon during tipping, a lever arm carrying said sustaining beam and pivotally mounted on the cage, said pivotal mounting being at unequal distances from the ends of the lever arm, a weight mounted for. movement .in an arcuate path on and around the rotatable cage, a rst elongated flexible meinber connected to said lever. armadjacent its end more remote from-the pivotal mounting and extending over guiding pulleys mounted on the rotatable cage to a connection to said weight, gravitational force acting on said weight being arranged to apply tensionto said rst elongated ilexible member during a part of the tipping operationto urge the sustaining beam into engagement with the wagon, a second elongated flexible member arranged to act on the lever arm adjacent the end less remote from the pivotal mounting and connected to said weight, a supporting structure for said rotatable cage, and a stop on said supporting structure to prevent said weight from moving beyond a predetermined position thereby applyingv a force to move the sustaining beam away from the wagon towards the end of the return movement after the completion of the tipping operation.

ROBERT ROBSON.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great-Britain Nov. 17, 1921 

